Ontario family day 2017

By Fatima Syed Staff Reporter Thu., May 3, 2018 At the Canadian Journalism Foundation inaugural World News day, Carol Todd, whose daughter Amanda committed suicide after experiencing online bullying, said she kept a written record of every journalist who called and emailed her. “We didn’t want to be a family out there that shared our story,” she told the audience at CBC’s Barbara Frum atrium. “In the throws of sadness, I didn’t want to do that.” Five and a half years after her daughter’s death was publicly broadcast around the world, Todd is grateful for the power of journalism for continuing the legacy of her daughter’s efforts to shed light on cyberbullying. Her story began the CJF event, which coincided with the United Nations’ World Press Freedom Day. The event came days after nine journalists were killed in Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday, in the deadliest assault on reporters since the fall of the … [Read more...] about World News day Toronto event celebrates the power of news to change lives, social conditions, laws

By Moira Welsh Investigative Reporter Thu., April 12, 2018 The stench of his father’s body rotting inside a Toronto retirement home is still stuck in the back of Ricky Gillett’s throat. Responding to a call that his father had died, Gillett had just arrived at the Bill McMurray Residence. He stood in the lobby, perplexed to see body removal workers in protective white booties pushing a swollen body bag out of the home. He pressed the elevator button and stepped inside, riding it to his dad’s room on the third floor. The doors slid open and the lingering odour hit him. “I smelled something that I’ve never in my life smelled and I’ve never forgotten it — I could taste it. I can still taste it today,” Gillett said. A former sheet-metal worker and a devoted Toronto Maple Leafs fan, Roy Gillett, 82, had moved into Room 305 in January 2016 after a bad fall in his two-storey townhouse left him scared he’d get … [Read more...] about Why was Grandad’s body in his retirement home bed for days? Haunted family shares disturbing autopsy results

By Sara Mojtehedzadeh Work and Wealth Reporter Brendan Kennedy Investigative Reporter Fri., April 6, 2018 Temporary employment agency worker Amina Diaby was on the job just two weeks when she died in a North York bakery. Her head scarf got sucked into a machine and strangled her — an industrial accident to which there were apparently no witnesses. That is what a provincial offences court heard last September when Fiera Foods pleaded guilty for failing to ensure that 23-year-old Diaby’s loose clothing was secured around machinery. The company, which was the subject of a Star undercover investigation last year, was fined $300,000 for the offence. But documents recently obtained by the Star show there was an employee working with Diaby at the time of her death. According to the documents, he did not know how to help her when she became entrapped because he did not understand how to use the machine’s emergency stop buttons. In a … [Read more...] about What happened the day Amina Diaby died?

By Martin Regg Cohn Ontario Politics Columnist Wed., March 28, 2018 Given up for dead, Ontario’s Liberals have given birth to a belatedly bold child care budget as they nurse dreams of an electoral renaissance. In an era of stay-the-course budgets, Queen’s Park has delivered the most ambitious pre-election blueprint in recent memory — rewriting the rules for free daycare, while pushing the envelope on deficit spending. The government is also bankrolling expanded pharmacare, home care, hospital care and mental health care. But there is a price to be paid for all this caring: sharing the burden through a seemingly bottomless bottom line: $6 billion annual deficits in coming years, with more borrowings piled onto our accumulated debt of more than $325 billion. Read more: Liberals crank up Ontario budget spending on seniors and families as election looms Article Continued Below Highlights from the 2018 Ontario budget Liberals put … [Read more...] about Ontario budget delivers most ambitious pre-election blueprint in recent memory — at a huge cost

By Kendra Coulter Amy Fitzgerald Opinion Sun., March 18, 2018 Animals are part of our families and communities, and what we do – and don’t do – in the political arena has a significant impact on their lives and deaths. The Ontario budget being presented later this month is an opportunity to make small investments that will better protect animals. Heinous cases of animal abuse - the details of which we won’t repeat here - are often in the news. It is the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSCPA) which investigates potential abuse. The OSPCA is legally responsible for enforcing animal cruelty laws, yet is a non-profit and charity reliant on donations. Last month the organization held its annual cupcake day to raise funds. Just 77 enforcement officers, most of them women, must cover our entire province and investigate 16,000 complaints annually. On top of universally over-sized caseloads, the inspectors’ conditions … [Read more...] about Ontario should be doing more to protect animals